Our Bay Area Teams Have Been Very Good to Us

Ok, I’m about to date myself.  The recent successes of several local teams, the Giants winning their second World Series in three years, the A’s making the playoffs out of nowhere, the 49ers playing well again and challenging for another Super Bowl, and the Sharks regularly making the playoffs, reminded me of three other “eras” during my lifetime where the local teams excelled and the bay area was the envy of the sporting world.

1971-1976

In case you don’t remember, our east bay teams dominated the sports world during these five years, as the Oakland A’s won five straight Western Division titles and three World Series in a row from 1971-1975; the Golden State Warriors surprised basketball fans by winning the NBA Championship in 1975, followed just a few months later by the Oakland Raiders who captured their first Super Bowl.  Exciting times indeed!  I was in my early to mid teens during that time and remember all of it well. My dad even took me to Game 4 of the 1974 World Series vs. the Dodgers (A’s won 5-2 thanks to Ken Holtzman’s pitching and home run).  In fact, I still have the ticket stub for the game!

We went to a lot of baseball games during that time, actually. My first was in 1971 when the Giants hosted the Cincinnati Reds.  I actually still have the program.  During that season,  I was fortunate to see Giant legends and Hall of Famers Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry . In fact, 1971 almost became the first “Battle of the Bay” World Series, as both the Giants and A’s won their respective divisions, but lost in their league finals.  The Giants, incidentally, wouldn’t win their division again until 1987.

You may have noticed that I have not mentioned the 49ers.  Although they fielded playoff teams in 1971 and 1972 (knocked out by Dallas both years), they only managed to win an average of 5 games a year from 1973-79….i.e., they weren’t very good.

1980-1984

The bay area ruled the NFL during these four years, as the 49ers and Raiders won four of the five Super Bowls during that time.  The Raiders took home the trophy in 1980 and 1983, while the 49ers came out of nowhere to win in 1981 and then again in 1984.  We were definitely spoiled!  The only thing that was disappointing was that they didn’t meet in the Super Bowl, which should have happened in 1983.  The 49ers were minutes away from upsetting the Washington Redskins before a horrible (I still cringe when I think of it) pass interference penalty against the 49ers which put the Redskins in scoring position for their winning points.  Fortunately the Marcus Allen-led Raiders spanked the Redskins in the Super Bowl.

Due to connections my dad had, I was fortunate to be able to attend several 49er games during this time (and throughout the 80’s). In 1981, I was sitting 12 rows from the field on the 45 yard line behind the Dallas Cowboys bench when the 49ers nipped the Cowboys in the exciting “The Catch” game.  I’ll never forget it.  We were sitting among long time season ticket holders who went bonkers after the Niners won. Tears were flowing everywhere as they celebrated their teams first ever Super Bowl appearance. 

Baseball and Basketball was another story, as the Giants, A’s, and Warriors were pretty much non-factors during the first half of the 1980’s, except for 1981 when “Billy Ball” mania hit the city of Oakland.  The A’s actually won the Western Division that year, only to lose to the mighty Yankees in the League finals.

1987-1990

Teams from both sides of the bay got into the act during this four year period. The Giants won two Western Division titles and appeared with the A’s in the infamous 1989 “Battle of the Bay” World Series, which of course was ruined by the Loma Prieta earthquake.  For the second time in less than twenty years, the A’s played in three straight World Series, but this time only managed to win one. The 49ers were red hot as well, winning back-to-back Super Bowls in 1988 and 1989. For a while 1990 looked like there might be a rematch of the San Francisco and Oakland teams, but this time in football. Just like in 1983, both the 49ers and Raiders made it to their respective championship games, but the NY Giants and Buffalo Bills ended that dream this time around.

Again, I was fortunate enough to attend a couple of 49er games each season during this time, including several playoff games.  I also went to game 3 of the 1988 World Series between the A’s and Dodgers. The A’s won 2-1 for their only win in the series. One of the runs came on a  Mark McGuire rocket.

The Warriors were the only exception during this time period, although they had pretty good teams in 1988 and 1990.  Unfortunately for them, there was a team down in L.A. during that time that featured guys named Jabbar, Magic and Worthy.

Yep, us bay area fans (at least the ones over 50 years old) have been pretty luck when it comes to our sporting teams.  Since 1972, we’ve been able to witness each team (except the Sharks) win a championship, with many winning multiple ones.  Fourteen in 40 years, or one every three years!  In fact, in championship games (World Series, Super Bowls, NBA Championships), the bay area teams are 14-3!   Pretty amazing, if you ask me….

Argo-rific.....

Had some time today, so I went with a good friend to see Ben Affleck's new Argo movie based on the true story of the six Americans who escaped being kidnapped during the 1979 American embassy invasion in Iran by hiding out in a Canadian diplomat's house, and American "escape expert" Tony Mendez (played by Affleck) who helped them escape by having them pose as a Canadian movie production team.  I have to be honest and say I didn't know many of the details of this story, so this in part was a learning experience for me.

Affleck the director did a great job on several fronts.  The cinematography was fantastic as the integration of old archive footage in Iran with newly shot footage was flawless. The shot of an elderly Iranian woman in her chador eating fried chicken at an Iranian KFC (who would have known?) was priceless and good for a laugh. He also did a nice job replicating the terror and uncertainty the six escapees must have gone through while hiding out not knowing if the Iranians knew they existed, while also knowing they would probably be killed if they did and were caught. In the scenes when Affleck the actor was driving through Tehran in an old beat up VW van, or walking amongst the angry Iranian people in a busy downtown area, you could actually relate to the tension and fear the real Tony Mendez must have felt. This tension was nicely broken up by the scenes in Hollywood where a veteran movie producer (played by Alan Arkin) and a special effects expert (played by John Goodman) helped Tony Mendez hatch his cover plot of a Canadian movie production team doing advance scouting for possible filming locations in Iran.  

The supporting case, in addition to Arkin and Goodman, included Bryan Cranston as a CIA director and Kyle Chandler as President Carter's Chief-of-Staff (and dead ringer to) Hamilton Jordan. Both were top notch.  The actors who played the various Iranian leads throughout the film were excellent. In fact, the entire cast was dead on.  During the closing credits, side by side shots of the six real escapees were shown alongside the actors who portrayed them in the movie. The resemblances of each were uncanny.

So that's about as far into the plot I'll go, because I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't seen it yet. However, I do have a couple of gripes. The movie did state up front that it was "based on a true story", which means the writers and film makers every so often took the liberty to add a scene which may not have actually have happened in order to liven up the plot.  In this movie, many of these fictional additions were so obvious, that I'm pretty sure I could pick out quite a few of them.  Not to give away anything, but I have a pretty good feeling that much of what happened at the end of the movie during the airport sequence was heavily altered to add some obvious drama.  As an example, the escapees manage to make it to their gate and board an old rickety bus that will take them to their awaiting airplane. Simultaneously, and unbeknownst to them, the Iranian militia are moving through the airport to try and stop them. Time is of the essence. As soon as they board the bus and attempt to drive off.....yes, you guessed it.....the bus driver is unable to shift gears in the bus.  For several agonizing seconds, the bus driver grinds the gears until it finally lodges into first gear, and he drives away as the militia reaches their gate.  "Hollywood drama", as I like to call it.  Sure, it added to the suspense, but how many dozens of times have you seen that in a movie? And there are several other instances of this type of "Hollywood drama" that, unfortunately, effected my enjoyment of the movie some.

However, there are many more positive aspects to the movie than negative, and as a result I would definitely recommend it.  Based on my rating system of 1 (skip it), 2 (rent it), 3 (worth matinee price) or 4 (worth full movie price), I'd give it a 3. The newspapers recently mentioned Argo as a possible Oscar contender this year. I'm not sure about that. As of now, I don't think I'd have a problem putting it in a top 10 list for the year, but I don't think it's worthy of being the best movie of the year. To me, it was an enjoyable, entertaining slightly above average dramatic action film.  But not much more than that.

The "Amazing A's" are back....

It was inevitable. My wife and I were at the Monterey Aquarium today, and Oakland Athletic hats were prominent.  The "A's", in case you haven't heard, were on the brink of wrapping up a season for the ages by sweeping the reigning two-time American League champion Texas Rangers and capturing their first division title in several years. Yes, the bandwagoners, or fair weather fans, were back. These are so called "fans" who only show their support when a team is winning. Boo on them....

Anyhow, regardless of what kind of A's fan you are, there is a good reason to celebrate....and scratch your head.  Of the 14 teams that make up the American League, including the budget-heavy LA/Anaheim Angels and New York Yankees, as well as the aforementioned Rangers, the A's were 13th in batting average (.238) going into the final game of season, 12th in hits (1,298), 10th in runs scored (698), and were 1st in strikeouts with an all-time franchise high 1,372. On defense, they committed the 3rd most errors (111) and had the 3rd worst team fielding percentage (.982). (Scratching your head yet?) Despite all of that, they supported the best record in the MAJORS since the All-Star break, or the hypothetical mid-point of the season, with a 51-25 record.  They were .500 before that (43-43)! 

How can that possibly happen you ask?

Well, since this is my blog, I'd like to offer two possibilities. The first, and most important, is pitching. The A's posted a team ERA of 3.50, which was 2nd lowest in the American League. Opposing hitters only averaged .246 against A's pitching, scored 608 runs, and hit 193 home runs (all 2nd lowest in the league). They were 4th in wins (92) and 4th lowest in walks allowed (457).  In short, batters had a hard time getting on base via a hit or walk against A's pitching, let alone scoring runs.

Secondly, I strongly believe in the good team chemistry = fun = confidence = momentum theory. Ok, it's a theory I made up, but after playing in various team sports from my early 20's to my early 40's, I've experienced being on teams that weren't the most talented out there, teams without a "super star", but teams that outplayed opponents better than we were. Teams like this require contributions from everyone.  And when that happens, a team chemistry starts to form. Once that takes root, confidence starts to build and before you know it, momemtum takes over. And that, in part, is what I think happened to the A's.  The team formed a bond somewhere in June, clutch hitting became contagious (they had a league leading 14 walk-off wins), they began to enjoy playing every day (in fact couldn't wait), garnered confidence, and before they knew it, won 51 of their last 75 games.  That, great pitching.....and of course a little good fortune.

The "Amazing A's"....a reference to the Oakland A's teams of the early 70's who won three world series in a row.  Both teams featured blue collar, everyday, hard working guys.  The only difference is the 2012 team supports goatees rather than moustaches.

Remember the 2012 A's, because they very well may be remembered as the ultimate "fairy tale" team in a season for the ages.